D’Ercole Giulia (currently BGF Excellence Post Habil scholarship)

Main Areas of Research

North African Prehistory; Nubian cultures; Pottery traditions and cultural identities; Provenance studies and archaeometric methodologies for the characterization of the ceramic materials (Optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis)

GdE

EDUCATION

2012    Dr phil awarded in Prehistoric Archaeology, Sapienza – University of Rome, Italy

2008    Master Degree (MA) in Archaeology, Sapienza – University of Rome, Italy

2005   Bachelor Degree (BA) in Archaelogical Sciences, Sapienza – University of Rome, Italy

CAREER HISTORY

2024-2025 Post-Habil scholarship of BGF (Bavarian Gender Equality Grant)

04/2024-09/2024 Teaching assistant of the Professorship Egyptian Archaeology and Art History, LMU Munich

10/2020-03/2024 PostDoc of the ERC DiverseNile project, LMU Munich

2019-2020 PostDoc scholarship of BGF (Bavarian Gender Equality Grant (BGF)

2018      PostDoc researcher of the MUFAS Project, LMU Munich

Since 2017 Responsible (freelancer) for the petrographic study (OM) of the ceramic sample from the Sphinx site (SBK.W-60), Jebel Sabaloka, Sudan. Study entrusted by dr. Lenka Varadizinovà of Charles University, Faculty of Arts in Prague, Czech Republic

10/2016-04/2017 PostDoc researcher at the Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany

04/2016-09/2016 Adjunct Professor (with ranks) in Prehistory and Protohistory for BA and MA students at the University of Cassino and Southern Latium, Department of Letters and Philosophy, Cassino, Italy

From 4/2013 to 03/2016 PostDoc researcher of the ERC Starting Grant project AcrossBorders, hosted by the Austrian Academy of Sciences until 03/2015 and by the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany from 04/2015

FIELD WORK EXPERIENCE IN NORTH AFRICA

2018–2019, 2020 – Attab to Ferka, Sudan (MUFAS Project, LMU Munich)

2019 – Sabaloka, Sudan (Sabaloka – West Bank Research Project, Charles University, Faculty of Arts in Prague Czech Republic)

2015 – Elephantine, Egypt (ERC Project AcrossBorders in cooperation with the Swiss Institute)

2013, 2014, 2015 – Sai Island, Sudan (ERC Project AcrossBorders)

2011, 2013 – Amara West, Sudan (Investigating life in an Egyptian town; Amara West research project of the British Museum (UK), Excavation and analysis of the prehistoric ceramic assemblage under the direction of Elena A. A. Garcea in charge of the Later Prehistory)

2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 – Sai Island, Sudan (Mission Archéologique de l’île de Saï, Université Charles de Gaulle – Lille 3 (France), Excavation and analysis of the prehistoric ceramic assemblage under the direction of Elena A. A. Garcea in charge of the Later Prehistory)

2006, 2007–2008 – Farafra, Egypt (Sapienza – University of Rome, Italy)

PUBLICATIONS

Monograph

D’Ercole, Giulia (2017). Ceramic manufacturing techniques and cultural traditions in Nubia from the 8th to the 3rd millennium BC. Examples from Sai Island. Oxford. http://archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={556CC449-7567-4B81-B0A9-CC723B1A5094}

Journals / Articles

Garcea, E. A. A., D’Ercole, G., Sterba, J. H, et al. (2020). Technological variability in foragers’ pottery productions at the early-mid Holocene site of Sphinx, western bank of Jebel Sabaloka (Sudan). Quaternary International 555, 110–125.

Julia Budka, with contributions by Giulia D’Ercole, Cajetan Geiger, Veronica Hinterhuber and Marion Scheiblecker (2019). Towards Middle Nile Biographies: The Munich University Attab to Ferka Survey Project 2018/2019, Sudan & Nubia 23, 13–26.

Hein, Irmgard, Rojas-Domínguez, Alfonso, Ornelas, Manuel, D’Ercole, Giulia and Peloschek, Lisa (2018). Automated classification of archaeological ceramic materials by means of texture measures, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 21, 921–928.

D’Ercole, Giulia, Budka, Julia, Sterba, Johannes H., Garcea Elena A. A. and Mader, Dieter (2017). The successful ‘recipe’ for a long-lasting tradition: Nubian ceramic assemblages from Sai Island (Northern Sudan) from prehistoric times to the New Kingdom period, Antiquity 91, 24–42.

D’Ercole, Giulia, Garcea, Elena A. A., Muntoni, Italo M. and Eramo, Giacomo (2017). Variability and continuity of ceramic manufacturing of prehistoric pottery from Upper Nubia, Sudan: An ethnographic comparison, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 16, 5535–5563.

D’Ercole, Giulia, Garcea, Elena A. A. and Karul, Necmi (2016) (Eds.). Southwest Asian domestic animals and plants in Africa: Routes, timing and cultural implications, Quaternary International 412, 1–10.

D’Ercole, Giulia, Eramo, Giacomo, Garcea Elena A. A., Muntoni, Italo M. and Smith, Jennifer R. (2015). Raw material and technological changes in ceramic productions at Sai Island, northern Sudan from the 7th to the 3rd millennium BC, Archaeometry 57 (4), 597–616.

Articles in books and proceedings

D’Ercole, Giulia (2018).Petrographic analysis on Egyptian Nile clays wares from Sai Island, New Kingdom Town. Appendix to: J. Budka, Egyptian pottery from the New Kingdom temple town of Sai Island, 107–133, in: R. David (ed.), Egyptian pottery in Sudan. Imports, Imitations and Influences. Cahiers de la Céramique Égyptienne Vol. 11. Cairo.

D’Ercole, Giulia and Sterba, Johannes H. (2018). From macro wares to micro fabrics and INAA compositional groups: the Pottery Corpus of the New Kingdom town on Sai Island (northern Sudan), 171–183, in: J. Budka and J. Auenmüller (eds.), From Microcosm to Macrocosm: Individual households and cities in Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Leiden.

D’Ercole, Giulia and Garcea, Elena A. A. (2018a). What do we see when we see a decoration? An overview on the pottery from Sai Island and Esh Shaheinab, 153–181, in: J. Kabaciński, M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz and M. Winiarska-Kabacińska (eds.), Desert and the Nile. Papers in honour of Fred Wendorf. Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara. Proceedings of the International Symposium of the Later Prehistory of Northeastern Africa organized by the Poznań Archaeological Museum and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan (Poland), 1–4 July 2015. Studies in African Archaeology Vol. 15. Poznan.

D’Ercole, Giulia and Garcea, Elena A. A. (2018b). The Emergence of Pottery in the Middle Nile Valley: Technology and Function of Early Holocene Complexes from Sudan, 560–564, in: Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Cassino (Italy), 22–24 October 2018.

D’Ercole, Giulia (2015). The ceramic assemblage from Sai Island (northern Sudan): connecting technological choices to cultural traditions between the 6th and the 3rd millennium BC, 177–194, in: J. Kabaciński, M. Chłodnicki and M. Kobusiewicz (eds.), Hunter-Gathers and Early Food Producing Societies in Northeastern Africa, in: Studies in African Archaeology. Proceedings of the International Symposium of the Later Prehistory of Northeastern Africa organized by the Poznań Archaeological Museum and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan (Poland), 4–7 July 2011. Studies in African Archaeology Vol. 14. Poznan.

D’Ercole, Giulia, Eramo, Giacomo and Muntoni, Italo M. (2014). Archaeometric approaches to ceramic manufactures and traditions at Sai Island, northern Sudan, 377–386, in: J. R. Anderson and D. A. Welsby (eds.), The Fourth Cataract and Beyond. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference for Nubian Studies. British Museum Publications on Egypt and Sudan Vol. 1, Leuven.

Forthcoming

D’Ercole, Giulia (a). Petrographic analysis of Oases wares from Sai Island, New Kingdom town. Appendix to: J. Budka, Oases wares from Sai Island, New Kingdom town, in: S. Marchand (ed.), Le céramique du désert occidental d’Égypte de la fin du Néolithique à l’époque arabe. La Marmarique, le Wadi Natroun et le oasis de Siwa, Bahariya, Dakhla et Kharga. Édition des actes de la table ronde de l’Ifao au Caire le 19 au le 20 décembre 2011. Cahiers de la Céramique Vol. 10.

D’Ercole, Giulia (b). Petrography of the pottery from the New Kingdom town of Sai, in: J. Budka (with contributions by G. D’Ercole, J. H. Sterba and P. Ruffieux), AcrossBorders 3: Vessels for the home away from Egypt. The pottery corpus from the New Kingdom town of Sai Island, Archaeology of Egypt, Sudan and the Levant, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna.

D’Ercole, Giulia and Sterba, Johannes H. Chemical analysis of the pottery from the New Kingdom town of Sai in: in: J. Budka (with contributions by G. D’Ercole, J. H. Sterba and P. Ruffieux), AcrossBorders 3: Vessels for the home away from Egypt. The pottery corpus from the New Kingdom town of Sai Island, Archaeology of Egypt, Sudan and the Levant, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna.

Online publications

D’Ercole, Giulia (2013). Preliminary classification of the 18th Dynasty Nubian wares from the New Kingdom Town, in: AcrossBorders – 2013 Online Season Report on Sai Island, https://acrossborders.oeaw.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AcrossBorders-Fieldwork-2013.pdf, 15–19.

D’Ercole, Giulia (2014). Sampling of pottery from the New Kingdom Town, in: AcrossBorders – 2014 Online Season Report on Sai Island, https://acrossborders.oeaw.ac.at/wp content/uploads/2014/03/AcrossBorders-Fieldwork-Report-2014.pdf, 16–17.